The Treasure of the Incas by G. A. Henty

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"Besides, they break the force of the waves. If it was not for them itwould be impossible for any boat to come up close to the face of thehouse, and a heavy storm might even break down the wall altogether. Atremendous sea would roll in here in a westerly gale; and if it hadn'tbeen for these rocks it would have been necessary to build the lower partof the house absolutely solid to resist the sea. It is possible that therocks were higher than they now are when the place was first constructed,in which case the house might have been almost entirely hidden from sight.Well, we may as well go back again, Bertie; we know all there is to beknown about this side."

They swam back into the tunnel, dressed, and went out.

"We have come out, Maria," Bertie called. "The coast is clear for you. Thewater is not so deep as we thought it was, and you can walk out to thepoint where the roof comes down on to the water without getting out ofyour depth."

It did not take them long to cut a number of switches to serve as brooms,and a couple of handles. They carried them up into the house, and lashedthe switches firmly on to the handles. The work was rough, but the broomswhen completed were large, and, although not strong enough for heavy work,would do well to sweep aside the thin layer of almost impalpable dust onthe floor below.

"Shall we take wood down there, Harry?"

"No; I think a fire would be a drawback rather than an assistance. Itwould be very valuable if we were working at one spot, but it could giveno general light in a place a hundred feet long. We will take a torchdown, and hold it and sweep by turns. We shall only want, to begin with,to make a clear path a couple of feet wide down the middle. Of courselater on we shall clear it all. That will be sufficient to enable us tosee how the floor is constructed, whether with big blocks or small ones,how closely they are fitted together, and so on. It is certainly unlikelythat we shall find any indication as to where chambers exist."

It took but a very short time to clear the path; the dust was so lightthat one sweep of the broom cleared it away. When they got to the fartherend they returned to examine the floor. For four or five feet from thecistern the rock had been evidently untouched, except to cut off anyprojecting points. Then there was a clear line running across the path.Bertie held the torch down close to it. Harry knelt down and examined it.

"This is a clean cut, Bertie. It is evidently solid above this, but thestone is not quite the same colour on each side of it, and it looks as ifthey had cut away the rock here and begun to build so as to keep the floorlevel. The cut may be six inches deep and it may be a foot, that doesn'tmatter. The face of this stone is very smooth, but it is not cut; it is, Ithink, the face of the natural fracture. Move the torch along and let ussee where the next join is. Ah, here it is!"

The slab was four feet across.

"You had better sweep the dust off both ways, Bertie, so that we may seewhat size it is."

It was, they found, about eight feet long.

"It has straight edges, Harry, almost as straight as if it had been sawn."

"Very likely it was sawn, Bertie; They could have had no tools that wouldcut a hard stone like this regularly, but as they were certainly cleverbuilders they must have employed some means to do it. Possibly they used asaw without teeth, for however much they might have hardened the copper,the teeth could not have stood, but if they had a hard copper band fixedlike the saw some masons use, and kept the stone moistened with fine sand,they might have cut into it. Of course it would have been a slow process;but they would not have needed to go far into the stone, for when they gotdown two or three inches they might have broken it through by dropping aheavy weight on the end. It would not have mattered if the fracture hadnot been straight below the cut, for only on the surface would they havewanted to fit accurately to the next stone. In another way they might havegot a straight edge, that is, by driving very dry wedges into the cut madeby the saw, and then moistening them. I know that great stones can besplit in that way. They may have used both methods. However, it doesn'tmatter to us much how they did it. It is clear that they could in some wayor other cut stones. As they took the trouble to do so here, we mayconclude that they were anxious to have a smooth floor that would beextremely difficult to get up.

"They would never have taken all this trouble if they had merely beenmaking a floor for a cellar. For that purpose it would only have beennecessary to throw rocks and stones of all sizes into the vacant spacebelow, and when it was nearly full, to level it with small stones andsand. That they chose to undertake such tremendous labour as the making ofso regular a floor as this must have been, shows that they had some verystrong motive for doing so."

Going carefully along the track they had cleared, they found that thestones were of different sizes; some were but two feet wide, others asmuch as ten, but all fitted so closely together that it was difficult tosee the joints.

"It is going to be a hard job to get these out, Bertie," Harry said, whenthey had completed their examination, "and it is lucky for us that theroom gradually narrows from sixteen feet wide to two at the other end, andwhen we stepped it we made it eighty feet long. We need not take up thestones near the rock wall, for the ravine would naturally narrow as itwent lower, and the depth would be greatest by the side of the wall of thetunnel."

"Well, we shall soon blow up the stones when we have got the powder."

"I hope so, Bertie; but I see that we shall have difficulty unless thesetop stones are extraordinarily thick."

Bertie looked surprised. "Why, I should have thought the thicker they werethe more difficult to break up."

"Beyond a certain point that would be so. But suppose they are six inchesthick, you may take it for granted that underneath there will be rubble,loose stuff, except where any chambers may be built. If we were to bore ahole through this top layer the powder, instead of splitting the stonesup, would expend its force among the loose stuff beneath it; and besides,instead of remaining in its place, it might get scattered, and we wouldthen get no explosion at all."

"Then we should only have to make the hole four inches deep, Harry?"

"As a result of which there would only be two inches of tamping over thepowder, and this would blow right out, as if from a little mortar, andwould have no effect whatever upon the stone. I have no doubt that weshall find some way to get over these difficulties, but it is evident thatthe work will not be all clear sailing."

"Of course we shall manage it somehow, Harry, even if we have to smash upall the stones with the sledge-hammers Dias will bring us."

"Is breakfast nearly ready, señora? That swim in the sea has given us aprodigious appetite. Did you enjoy it?"

Maria nodded.

"It is very nice, señor; but I should have liked it better if the waterhad not been so blue. It seems so strange bathing in blue water."

"You will soon get accustomed to it," Bertie laughed. "There are no poolsexcept that one two miles up the valley. Besides, it is much nicer to havea great bathing chamber all to yourself. Here comes José!"

"Well, José, are the mules all right?" he shouted.

"Yes, but I had difficulty in catching them. They had evidently beenfrightened by something, and were three miles up the valley with theircoats all staring. It must have been either a puma or a jaguar. Of coursethey must have got wind of him in time; but as, fortunately, they were nottethered, they were able to get away from him."

"I should think he must be up somewhere among the bushes, José," Harrysaid. "We had better go down tonight and see if he returns again. We shallbe losing some of the mules if we don't put a stop to his maraudingBesides, it will be very dangerous for you, José, cutting the wood upthere, if he is lurking somewhere. It is fortunate that you escapedyesterday."

"I expect he was on the other side of the ravine, señor; and even if hehad not been, the sound of the chopping would have scared him. They willnot often attack in the daytime."

When they had finished their breakfast José asked what he should do next.

"There is nothing else to do, so it would be as well to take our pickaxesand get some of those brackets out of the walls. We will begin with theother rooms of this floor and leave these here till the last."

"I will come and hold a torch for you, señors," Maria said. "I like to bedoing something. I will wash up first, and then I shall have nothing to dotill it is time to get ready for dinner. Now I know there is a savagebeast about I should not like to go down the ladder."

"There is very little chance of his coming down the rocks," Harry said."He is more likely to be lying somewhere on the other side watching themules."

No move was made until the woman was ready to start. Then they lit twotorches. She took one and Bertie the other, while José and Harry took twopicks. It was hard work, for the brackets were driven far into the pillarsand walls. It was necessary to knock away the stones round them to a depthof two or three inches before they could be got out. They worked one ateach side of a bracket, relieving each other by turns, and after fourhours' work only eighteen brackets had been got out. As far as they couldtell by lifting them, the weight was somewhat greater than they had atfirst supposed. Harry could hold one out in each hand for a minute and ahalf, Bertie and José for a little over half a minute, and they agreedthat they must be about twenty pounds each.

By this time their shoulders ached, and it was agreed that they had done agood day's work. For the rest of the day they did nothing but sit on thesill of the window and smoke quietly. The next day's work was similar, andtwenty more brackets were got out. Late in the afternoon they saw Diascoming down the steps, and at once went down the ladder to meet him.

"Have you got everything, Dias?"

"I think so, señor, and I can tell you that the mules have had a prettyheavy load to bring back."

"Well, we will go with you at once, Dias, and bring some of the things up.I expect you have had nothing to eat since the morning. Before you doanything else you had better go in. Your wife has been keeping a dish hotfor you, as she did not know when you might arrive."

"I shall not be long before I come and help you, señor. I have unsaddledthe mules and turned them out to graze."

"It is just as well, Dias, for there is a beast somewhere about that gavethem a fright last night. We will get all the eatables up to-night, thepowder and drills and hammers we can very well leave till to-morrowmorning."

It took them four trips to bring the provisions over, for it required twoof them to carry each sack of flour, and indeed all had to give their aidin getting them up the rocky slope at the foot of the wall.

"No one seemed to think it unusual, your taking so large a load, I hope,Dias?" Harry said as they sat down to their evening meal.

"No, señor. The man I bought the powder of was a little surprised at theamount I wanted; but I said that I might be absent many weeks in themountains, and might want to drive a level in any lode that I mightdiscover. I led him to believe that I had seen a spot in the mountainsthat gave good indications, and that two of my comrades were waiting therefor my return to begin work at it. I sold the llamas to a man who carriesgoods from Ancon up to Canta, and got the same price that you gave forthem."

Harry then told him the work on which he had been engaged since he hadbeen away.

"Of course there is no hurry about the brackets, but as we could donothing else without the powder and drills, it was just as well to getthem out, as otherwise we might have been delayed when we had done ourother work. We think that they weigh twenty pounds each, so thataltogether they will be worth nearly four thousand pounds. Not a badstart. I am afraid we sha'n't make such quick work down below."

"We shall see," Dias said cheerfully, for now that his fear of the demonshad passed he was as eager as Harry himself to begin the search for thetreasure.

"Has Maria seen any more bats?"

"Yes, she has seen some more bats," his wife said, "but no demons. Dias,what do you think? Don Harry suggested that we might eat the bats."

"I have heard of their being eaten," Dias said, "and a man who ate themraw told me that he had never enjoyed anything more. But I should not liketo try it myself, unless I were driven to it as he was."

"How was that, Dias?"

"He was a muleteer, señor, and was up in the mountains. He had a cargo ofsilver on his mule, and during the day he had seen some men who he doubtednot were brigands on the top of the ravine he passed through. He knew of acavern where he had once taken refuge with the animals during a storm. Itlay on the hillside some twenty or thirty yards away from the road. Theentrance was hidden by bushes, and he had first noticed it by seeing abear come out as he was passing along. He had his pistols, and thoughtthat it was better to risk meeting a bear than a brigand. He arrivedopposite the cave just as it became dark, and at once led the mules upthere. He first lighted a torch--the muleteers always carry these withthem--and then went in with his pistols ready, but there were no signs ofa bear anywhere near the entrance.

"He drove the mules in and put out his torch. The entrance had been onlywide enough for the laden animals to pass, but it widened out a great dealinside. He took off the loads, piled them up in the narrow part to make abarricade, and then sat down at the entrance and listened. He soon heardfive or six men come down the road talking. They were walking fast, andone was saying that he could not be more than half a mile ahead, and thatthey should soon catch him. When they had gone, he went some distance inthe cave and relighted his torch. He went on and on. The cave was a verylarge one, and when he had gone, as he thought, four or five hundredyards, it branched off into three. He took the middle one, and followed itfor a long way. At last it opened into a large chamber from which therewere several passages. Here he found a large number of things that hadevidently been stolen from muleteers. There were at least a dozen muleloads of silver; goods of all kinds that had been brought up from thecoast; the ashes of fires, and a great many bones and skins of llamas, andsome sacks of flour.

"He thought he would now return to the mules; but apparently he enteredthe wrong passage, for he went on till he felt sure he ought to be in thechamber where he had left the animals, and he was turning to go back whenhe tripped over a stone and fell, and his torch went out. Then he felt inhis pocket for his box of matches, and to his horror found that it hadgone. It must have dropped out when he was examining the passages. He didnot think much of it at first, but he had passed several openings on hisway, and in the dark he probably turned down one of these. At any rate helost his way somehow, and wandered about, he thinks, for hours; but itmight have been much less, for he told me that he quite lost his head. Atlast he came out into a place where he could only feel the rock on oneside of him, and knew that he must be in a large chamber.

"Looking up he saw, to his joy, a faint light, and moving a little, caughtsight of a star. He was utterly worn out, and threw himself down. He wasawakened by a strange rustling sound, and looking up saw that daylight wasbreaking, and that a stream of bats was pouring in through a hole, whichwas about three feet wide. He made several efforts to climb up to it, butfailed. The bats hung thickly from every projecting point in the rocks. Hehurt himself badly in one of the attempts to get up, and twisted his foot.All day he lay there. Then the idea struck him that he would kill a bat,cut it open, and use it as a poultice to his foot. The creatures did notmove when he touched them, and he cut off the head of one of them andsplit it open. He did this three or four times during the day, and feltthat the application was easing the pain of his ankle.

"When it became dusk the bats flew out again, and he knew his only chancewas to keep his ankle perfectly rested. In the morning he killed some morebats. He was by this time tortured with thirst, and sucked the blood ofone of them, and in the afternoon ate one raw. Another night passed, andin the morning he felt so much better that he could make another trial. Heate another bat to give him strength, and in the middle of the day made afresh attempt. He had while lying there carefully examined the wall ofrock, at the top of which was the opening, and had made up his mind atwhat point would be best to try. This time he succeeded. He made his waydown the hillside, and found that he was a quarter of a mile higher up thepass than the spot at which he had left the mules. He hobbled down, and tohis delight found his animals still in the cavern.

"He had when he first got there opened their sack of grain in order toensure their keeping quiet. There was still some remaining at the bottom.He lost no time in loading them and leading them out, and made his waydown the pass without seeing anything of the robbers. Afterwards he wentback there with a good supply of torches, found his way to the cave, andbrought down two mule-loads of silver. Gradually he brought the rest ofthe goods down, and today he is a rich man."

"Well, I think under those circumstances, Dias, I would have eaten batsmyself. It was certainly a clever idea of his to convert them intopoultices, though the general opinion is that cold bandages are the bestfor a sprained ankle."

Then they discussed their plans for the next day. "I know nothing aboutblasting, señor. You give me instructions, and I will do my best to carrythem out; but it is useless for me to talk of what I know nothing about."

"There is a lot of common sense in that, and yet in every work, Dias,sometimes while a skilled man is puzzling how to do a thing a looker-onwill suggest a satisfactory plan. That treasure has been buried there Ihave no doubt whatever. They would never have gone to the labour of pavingthose cellars as carefully as they have done unless for some specialpurpose. The floor was undoubtedly made when the house was built, and ifwe find treasure-chambers there they will be those of the old people. Ofcourse they may have been discovered by the Incas, and when they in turnwanted to bury treasure this place might occur to them as beingparticularly well fitted to escape search by Spaniards. However, to-morrowwe shall learn something more about them. The first thing to do in themorning, when we have brought up the rest of the goods, is to sweep thefloors of those chambers carefully. When we have done that we willdetermine where to set to work."

Two trips brought up the powder and instruments.

"We will take one of the kegs of powder down with us," said Harry, "andleave the other five in the empty room behind this. It is just as well notto have them in this room; the sparks fly about, and some things mightcatch fire. I don't think there is any real danger, but, at the same time,it is best to be on the safe side."

"There are a dozen pounds of candles in this bundle, señor. You did nottell me to get them, but I thought they might be useful."

"Thank you, Dias! they certainly will be useful. What are they?--tallow?""Yes, señor."

"Then before we go down we will get a couple of pieces of flat wood, anddrive a peg into each, sharpened at the upper end. Candles stuck on thesewill stand upright, and we can put them down close to where we areworking. They will give a better light than a torch, and leave us all freeto use the tools. Did you think of buying some more tinder?"

"Yes, señor, I have five boxes, and half a dozen more flints."

They carried the keg of powder, the sledges, drills, and wedgesdownstairs, and then Dias and José set to work to sweep out the twochambers. The work was easy, but they were obliged to stop several times,being almost choked with the light dust. Harry and Bertie offered to taketheir turn, but the others would not hear of it, and they were glad to goup to what they called their drawing-room until the work was done and thedust had settled a little. Then they examined the pavement carefully withtheir torches. They had hoped that they might find either copper rings, orat least holes where rings had been fastened, but there were no signswhatever of such things in either of the chambers.

"We will begin to work half-way down," Harry said. "Of course the treasuremay lie near the cistern end, but the depth below the floor would be veryshallow there. More likely the chambers would be at the deep end. If webegin in the middle we may be pretty sure that we have not passed them. Wewill begin rather nearer the passage wall than the other, as the depththere will be greater. It does not matter which stone we take, one is aslikely as another. Step ten paces from the cistern, Bertie, and the stoneyou stop on we will try first."

When Bertie came to a stand-still they carefully examined the pavement."You are standing on one of the cracks, Bertie; I will stay there whileyou all bring the tools along."

"Shall I open the powder?" Bertie asked.

"No. It is no good doing that until we have quite decided what we aregoing to do. The wedges certainly won't go into this crack. I think ourbest plan will be to sink a bore-hole about two inches from the crack. Wewill drive it in in a slanting direction towards the edge, and in that wayit will have more chance of blowing a piece out. First of all, we mustmake a slight indentation with a pick, otherwise we sha'n't get the boreto work. I will begin."

He took a pick and struck several blows.

"It is very hard stone," he said. "I have scarcely made a mark upon it."

He worked for some time, and then let Bertie take the pick. The lad strucka blow with all his strength, and then dropped the pick with a loud cry,wringing his hands as he did so.

"You have jarred your hands, Bertie; you should not hold the haft sotightly."

"It did sting!" Bertie said. "I feel as if I had taken hold of a red-hotpoker. It has jarred my arm up to the shoulder; I can't go on at present."

"You try, Dias."

Dias went more carefully to work, knelt down on one knee, and proceeded togive a number of what seemed light blows.

"That is better than I did, Dias. The stone is crumbling into dust, and weshall be able to use the borer in a short time. Perhaps it will be betterafter all to drive the hole down straight. It will be easier to beginwith; when we see how thick the stone is we shall know better how toproceed."

In ten minutes Dias had made a hole a quarter of an inch deep.

"Now, give me one of the borers--that one about two and a half feet long.I will hold it, and you strike to begin with, Dias, only mind my fingers.Keep your eye fixed on the top of the borer, and take one or two gentlestrokes to begin with; then, when you know the distance you have to standfrom it, do your best. You needn't really be afraid of striking myfingers. I shall hold the drill at least a foot from the top."

Dias began very carefully, gradually adding to the strength of the blowsas he got the right distance, and was soon striking hard. After each blowHarry turned the borer a slight distance round. When he heard the native'sbreath coming fast he told José to take a turn. The lad was nervous; thefirst blow he struck only grazed the top of the borer, and narrowly missedHarry's fingers. José dropped the sledge. "I can't do it, señor; I amafraid of hitting your fingers. I will sit down and hold it; it does notmatter if you hit me."

"It would matter a good deal, José. No, no; you have got to learn."

"Would it not be well, señor," Dias said, "to take the borers and threehammers outside, and try them in soft ground? We could work them theretill we all got accustomed always to hit them fair. There would be nooccasion for them to be held, and we should get confident. I could havehit twice as hard as I did, if I hadn't been afraid of missing it."

"I think that is a very good plan, Dias. The loss of a day or two willmake no difference. We shall make up for it afterwards."

Accordingly the drills and hammers were all taken up, and they were soonat work. Two or three gentle taps were given to the borers, to make themstand upright, and then all four began work. At first they often eithermissed the heads of the borers or struck them unevenly.

"It is well, Dias, that we carried out your suggestion, as I see I shouldhave had an uncommonly good chance of getting my fingers smashed, or awrist broken. I have missed as often as any of you."

They stopped frequently for breath, and at the end of an hour were glad tolay down their hammers. Dias was comparatively fresh; his practice as awoodsman now did him good service.

"I should have thought from the number of trees that I have helped to cutdown," Bertie said, "that I could hit pretty hard, but this is a greatdeal stiffer work. I should say that this hammer is at least twice theweight of the axe, and it is the lightest of the four. I ache a good dealworse than I did when I first chopped that tree down."

"So do I, Bertie. We will stick at this till we get accustomed to thework. By doing so we shall gain strength as well as skill."

"I will get some grease, señor, from Maria, and then I will rub yourshoulders, and arms; that will do you a great deal of good."

"Thank you, Dias! It would be a good plan."

Dias did this to José as well as to the brothers, and then José in turnrubbed him.

They waited half an hour, and then Harry said: "Let us have anotherspell." This time a quarter of an hour sufficed. "It is of no use, Harry;I can't go on any longer," Bertie said. "I feel as if my shoulders werebroken."

"I am beginning to feel the same, Bertie. However, we are all hittingstraighter now. We will go up into the shade and take it quietly for twoor three hours; then we will have a spell again."

However, after the rest, they all agreed that it would be useless to tryagain, for they could not lift their arms over their heads without feelingacute pain. Three days were spent at this exercise, and at the end of thattime they had gained confidence, and the heads of the drills were nolonger missed.

After the first day they only worked for a quarter of an hour at a time,taking an hour's rest. The pain in their arms had begun to abate. On thefollowing day they practised striking alternately, three standing roundone borer. They found this at first awkward, but by the end of the daythey were able to strike in regular order, the blows falling faster aftereach other on to the drill.

"I think we shall do now," said Bertie. "No doubt we shall hit harder witha fortnight's practice, and shall be able to keep it up longer. However, Ithink that even now we have sufficient confidence in striking to be ableto hold the borer without any fear of an accident."

The next day they began work early in the cellar. José volunteered to takethe first turn to hold the drill.

"You understand, José, you must turn it round a little after each stroke,and in that way it will cut the hole regularly."

Harry took his place on one side of José, who sat with a leg on each sideof the drill. Dias stood facing Harry, Bertie behind José holding thetorch so that its light fell strongly on the head of the drill. At firstthe two men struck gently, but gradually, as they grew confident,increased the weight of their strokes until they were hitting with theirfull power. After ten minutes they stopped. "Let us look at the hole,"Harry said. "How far has it got down?"

José moved his position and Harry examined the hole. "About an eighth ofan inch," he said. "Let us scrape the dust out of it."

"Shall we take a spell now, Harry?" Bertie said.

"No, we will wait five minutes and then go on again, and after that wewill change places with you, relieving each other every twenty minutes."

The work went on, and at the end of two hours the hole was three inchesdeep. Another hour and a half and the drill suddenly went down.

"We are through it," Bertie said, "and I am not sorry."

"Now I will lift the drill up gently, Bertie; do you kneel down, and whenI stop, take hold of it close to the floor, so that we may see thethickness of the stone."

"Five inches," he said as he measured it. "Now put on a little grease,Dias. I will lower it again, and we shall be perhaps able then to get someidea of what is underneath."

He lowered the drill and turned it round two or three times, and thencarefully raised it. Some sand and little stones were sticking to it.

"Sand and gravel," he said. "That settles that point. Now we have done agood morning's work, and let us go up and have breakfast."

Maria looked enquiringly at them. "I was just coming down for you. Well,what have you done?"

"We have drilled one hole, Maria, and none of us have got our fingerssmashed, so I think we have every reason to be satisfied with our firstexperience at the work."

As they breakfasted they talked matters over. Harry said that he wascertain that the thickness of the stone was not sufficient for them tobreak it up by blasting. "We shall have to try some other plan. It isequally certain that we cannot smash the stone with the sledge-hammers,and I don't think that the wedges would break it. Of course if we got onestone out it would be comparatively easy to lift the next, as we could putthe crowbars under it. If we can do it in no other way, we must drill aline of holes close to each other right across the stone, and we mightthen break off the piece between them and the crack and get our crowbarsunder the slab. It might be worth while to drill holes a foot apart, fromthe point where we have begun to the other end of the room. Of course ifwe found that gravel and stones were everywhere under the slabs we shouldlearn nothing; but the opening to the chambers is probably covered byanother stone, and if we found that, we could put in one or two more holesso as to be sure that it was flat, in which case we might smash itsomehow. Of course, if we don't come upon a flat stone we shall concludethat they put a layer of sand and fine gravel over the slabs covering thevaults, and must then, as I say, get up one stone and gradually lift allthe rest, clearing out the gravel as we go to the depth of a foot or so.In that way we shall make sure that we shall not miss any chamber theremay be.

"I think that would certainly be the best plan. At present we are gropingaltogether in the dark, and it will take us a fortnight at least to makethat row of holes close to each other, as you propose."

CHAPTER XVIII

DISAPPOINTMENT

Six more days were spent in driving holes according to Harry's plan. Theresult was in all cases the same. Sand and small stones were brought upattached to the grease. They had now sunk the holes at a much more rapidrate than at first, for they were accustomed to the work, their muscleshad hardened, and they were able to strike more frequently and withgreater force. They would have got on still more quickly had it not beenfor the trouble in sharpening the drills. These were heated in the smallblacksmith's fire Dias had brought. They were first placed in the fire,but this was not sufficiently hot to raise them beyond a dull red glow.When this was done a shovelful of glowing fragments was taken from thefire and placed on the hearth, and among these the small bellows raisedthe ends of the drills to a white heat, when of course they were easilyworked. At first they had some difficulty in tempering them. Sometimes,when cooled, the points were too soft, at other times too brittle; but atthe end of a week they had arrived at the proper medium. But one of theparty had to work steadily to keep the drills in good order.

Bertie was daily employed at this work, as José generally failed to givethe proper temper to the tools. Bertie, however, generally managed to getin two or three hours' work below. Although perfectly ready to do hisshare, he was by no means sorry to be otherwise employed for a part of theday, and as he was now able to talk Spanish with perfect fluency he andDonna Maria maintained a lively conversation whenever they were together.All the party, however, were glad when Sunday came round and gave them aday of complete rest; then they would bathe, fish, shoot pigeons, or liein the shade, each according to his fancy, and recommence work with freshvigour the next morning.

Just a fortnight after they had begun work they were about to begin a holein a fresh stone. Talking it over, they had come to the conclusion thatthis was the most likely spot in the cellar for the situation of anunderground chamber. Farther on there would scarce be width for one, forit was here but eight feet across. Where they had already tried therewould scarcely have been depth enough. This seemed to them to be the happymedium.

Before setting to work Dias passed his torch over the stone. Presently hestopped. "Will you light two of the candles, señor; the torch flickers toomuch to see very plainly."

Somewhat surprised, for no such close examination had been made before,the candles were lighted and handed to him. Dias knelt down, and, with hisface close to the stone, moved about carefully, examining it for someminutes without speaking.

"This stone, señor, is broken," he said at last, "broken into a dozenpieces, and they have been so carefully fitted together again that thedust that settled upon it quite prevented our seeing it till we swept itagain just now, and it was only because there was a tiny chip out where Ifirst looked that I noticed it."

Harry knelt down and also examined the stone. Like all the others, it hadnot been faced with tools. Consequently, although roughly even, there wereslight irregularities in the surface. Now, as Dias pointed them out tohim, he saw that there were lines running through it here and there.

"Look here, señor. The stone has been struck here. Here are some dents."

These were scarcely noticeable. The surface had taken the same colour asthe rest of the stone. They were of irregular size, and from a quarter ofan inch to an inch in diameter, and nearly in the centre of the stone,from which point several of the cracks started.

"It certainly looks as if the stone had been struck with something heavy,"Harry said. "I should think, by the appearance, some very heavy piece ofrock must have been dropped upon it."

"Yes, señor, very heavy rock--so heavy that there must have been many mento lift it."

"It must have been heavy indeed to break up this slab."

"Perhaps it is not so thick as the others," Dias suggested.

"I don't like it, Dias. Well, let us set to work. We will try the wedgesthere. They were no use against the solid stone, but they might move thesepieces. Put one of the borers just at the place from which these cracksstart--at least, I suppose they are cracks--and let us drive it in for aninch. You hold it, José. Don't turn it, we want it to go in just in a linewith this crack. I know we cannot drive it in far, but at least we maymake it go deep enough to give a wedge a hold in it."

Five such small holes were made in a crack that seemed to form a roughcircle, then the wedges were put in, and they began to work with sledges.In ten minutes Harry, examining the place carefully, said: "The bit ofstone is breaking up. There are lines running across it from the wedges.Give me the heaviest sledge." He swung it round his head and brought itdown half a dozen times in the centre of the wedges. The cracks opened sofar that he could see them without stooping.

"Now we will try with the crowbars," he said.

In ten minutes a fragment of the stone was got up; then they hammered onthe wedges again, and a piece of rock, which was roughly seven or eightinches in diameter, broke completely off.

"It is only about two and a half inches thick," Harry said as he drew oneof the fragments out. And, holding the candle to the hole, he went on:"And there is another slab underneath. That settles it. We are at the topof one of these vaults. The question is, is it empty? I am afraid it is.This stone has evidently been broken up and fitted in again with wonderfulcare."

"Why should it be fitted in carefully if they emptied the chamber?"

"That I can't tell you, Dias, and it is of no use trying to guess now.First of all, we will get the rest of the stone up. It won't be difficult,for now that we have made a start we can use our crowbars. José, run upand tell my brother to come down. We shall want him to help with thecrowbar; and besides, he would, of course, wish to be here, now that weare on the point of making a discovery one way or the other."

In a minute Bertie came down with José, and Donna Maria followed. "Josétells me you have broken a hole in one of the stones," Bertie exclaimed ashe ran up,

"We have got a bit out of a broken stone, Bertie. This stone had beenbroken before, and evidently not by accident. It is only half thethickness of the others, and, as you can see, there is another slabunderneath."

"Who can have broken it, Harry?"

"That question we cannot decide, but I should say probably the Incas. Weagreed that it was very possible they discovered the hidden treasures ofthe Chimoos. They must have learned, as the Spaniards did, how cleverlythese places were hidden, and it must have been as evident to them as itis to us, that if there was a hiding-place here, this must be the spot."

When one or two more pieces of the stone had been got out by the aid ofcrowbars, the rest was removed without the least difficulty. Another slabtwo feet square was exposed. In the middle of this was a copper ring, andthe slab fitted, into a stone casing about eighteen inches wide. As soonas this casing was cleared, Dias and José took their places on one side,the two brothers on the other. A crowbar was thrust through the ring, andall of them, taking hold of the ends, lifted with all their strength. Atfirst the stone did not move, but at the second effort it lifted suddenly.It was the same thickness as the one they had broken, and, on being moved,was easily handled. The torches were thrust down, and all peered eagerlyinto the vault. So far as they could see it was empty.

"Shall I jump down, señor?'

"No, the air may be bad, José. Run up and bring down a short length ofrope, twenty feet will be ample. Now, let your torch drop down, Dias. Ifit burns, it will be safe for us to go down; if not, we must keep ondropping blazing brands into it till they burn."

"It is empty," he said in as cheerful a voice as he could manage. "Ofcourse it is a disappointment," he went on, "but I felt certain that itwould be so directly we found the stone was cracked. The only hope wasthat the first finders of the treasure afterwards used the place for thesame purpose. That they thought it possible they might do so is clear bythe care with which they fitted the stones together."

None of the others spoke. The disappointment was a heavy one. Bertie brokethe silence by saying; "Well, better luck next time. They may have foundout this place, but there may be others which they did not find."

"Quite so, Bertie. Now we have got up one stone, It will be comparativelyeasy work getting up the others. We will take up every stone to the end,and then work back till we get to a place where there is not more than acouple of feet between the bottom of the stone and the top of the rock."

At this moment José ran into the room with the rope. Harry took it, anddropped one end until it nearly touched the floor below. "Hold on," hesaid, "and I will slip down first." Half a minute later he stood at thebottom of the chamber, beside the torch, which was still burning.

"It is only about three feet across at the bottom," he said; "the wall bythe passage goes straight up, on the other side it is the bare rock, so itis almost wedge-shaped. It is twenty feet long, and five feet high up toits roof, that makes it nearly seven to the upper part of the mouth." Thevault was absolutely empty. He moved about for a minute and then said:"Gold has been stored here. There are particles of gold at the bottom, andthere is gold-dust in the cracks of the broken face of the rock. Now Iwill come up again. Hold the rope tight; I will climb about a yard, andthen I can get my fingers on the ledge."

He was soon up. "Now, do any of you want to go down?" Dias and José shooktheir heads; and Bertie grumbled, "I don't want to look at the beastlyhole; it has been trouble enough to get at it."

"Well, I think we will not do any more to-day, Dias. It has rather takenthe heart out of one. Still, we could not expect to hit upon the treasurefor the first time. We will go up and talk it over, and when we havesmoked a pipe or two we shall be more inclined to take a cheerful view ofthe matter. We won't talk about it till we have got to the end of oursecond pipe."

The tobacco did its usual work, and it was with quite a cheerful voicethat Bertie broke the silence: "The Incas must have been pretty sharpfellows to find that hole, Harry?"

"Well, very likely they heard that the Chimoos had treasure there. Indeedthey must have known, because, you see, not one of the other stones isbroken, so they evidently knew where that chamber was situated."

"Yes, I suppose that was it. Well, we are in fine working order now, andwe sha'n't be very long getting the other stones up."

"Not very long this side anyhow, Bertie. We shall want some short blocksof wood to put under the stones as we raise them. I expect they are allfive inches thick, and they must be a very big weight. Evidently it isgoing to be a longish job. As we have been a fortnight without fresh meat,Dias had better go off and buy half a dozen sheep. We won't have dead meatthis time. He can bring them slung over the mules, and we can kill them aswe want them."

"We have not had fresh meat, but we have not done badly, Harry; we havegenerally had a good many eggs and some pigeons, and José has brought usin fish from that pool. But they have dwindled down lately. He onlybrought in a couple of fish yesterday evening."

"Well, the pigeons are getting scarcer too, Bertie. We have killed a goodmany, but the rest are getting very shy, and I think most of them musthave gone off and settled in new places on the face of the rocks above theravine. While Dias is away, we will try and lay in a stock of sea-fish. Wecan swim out and sit on the rocks during the day, and lay our lines atnight. We have worked very hard for a fortnight, and we deserve aholiday."

Dias, when he was spoken to, said he would start at once with four mulesfor Huacha. "It is not above fifteen miles," he said, "and I can get therethis evening. I should think that I could buy the sheep there; if not, Imust go on to Huaura. Each mule will bring two sheep. Of course I coulddrive them, but that would seem more singular."

"You had certainly better take the mules, Dias. Tie the sheep carefully onthem, so that they will not be hurt."

"I will take eight of the leather bags, señor. The sheep are not large,and I will sling one on each side of the mules."

"Yes, it would be as well, while you are about it, to bring eight. You mayas well get some more coffee. We drink a lot of that, and like it strong.If your wife thinks we shall want more sugar, or anything else, by allmeans get some."

As soon as Dias started, the lines were got ready. They cut a couple ofsaplings to serve as rods, and José, digging among the rocks, found plentyof worms, beetles, and grubs for bait. In addition, they took a cake ortwo of maize, to break up and throw in to attract the fish.

"We had better swim out in our flannel shirts and trousers," Harry said."They will soon dry, and they will keep off the sun. If we were to sitthere without them, we should get blistered from head to foot."

"Shall we fish outside the rocks, or inside, Harry?"

"We will try both; but I think we are likelier to catch most inside. Ishould think a back-water like that would attract them."

They met with equal success on both sides of the rocks, and by evening hadcaught over forty fish, at least half of which weighed over four pounds.Then they set the long lines, each carrying forty hooks, and returned tothe castle with as many fish as they could possibly carry. Maria wasdelighted with the addition to her larder, and she and José set to work atonce to clean and split them. In the morning they were hung in stringsfrom the broad window. Maria said they would get the benefit of the heatfrom the walls, and any air there might be would be able to pass roundthem.

By means of the night-lines they caught almost as many fish as they haddone with their rods, and that day they had the satisfaction of bringingin more than they could carry in one journey.

"We have got plenty now to keep us going for another three weeks," Harrysaid, "and we can always replenish our stock when we choose."

Dias returned at sunset carrying one sheep over his shoulders.

"I have left the others out there, señor; I don't think there is any fearof their straying. There is no fresh grass anywhere except near thestream, and moreover, being strange to the valley, they will naturallykeep near the mules."

Another month passed in continuous labour. The stones had all been takenup in the basement they had first visited, but no other chamber had beenfound. The parallel chamber had given them much trouble at starting, as nostone had been found showing any cracks upon it, and they had had to blastone stone to pieces before they could begin to cut up the others. Nochamber whatever had been discovered until they were within six feet ofthe farther end. Then one was found, but it showed no signs whatever ofhaving ever been used. "So far so bad," Harry said when the supper hadbeen eaten almost in silence; "but that is no reason why we should bedisheartened. If the Incas buried a treasure they may have thought itprudent to choose some other spot than that used by the old people."

"But where could it be, Harry? You agreed that there was not sufficientdepth between the floors for any place of concealment."

"That is so, Bertie, of course. I have been thinking of it a lot duringthe past few days, when the chances of our finding a treasure under thebasement were nearly extinguished. There are still the side walls."

"The side walls!" Bertie repeated. "Surely they are built against therock?"

"Yes, but we don't know how straight the wall of rock is. You see, theydid not build against it at all in the basement, but above that the sidewalls begin. The rock must have been irregular, and as the walls werebuilt the space behind may have been filled in or may not. When they cameto build they may have found that there was a cavern or caverns in therock--nothing is more likely--and they may have left some sort of entranceto these caverns, either as a place of refuge to the garrison if the placewere taken, or as a hiding-place. They might have thought it more securefor this purpose than the underground chamber, which was their generalhiding-place. At any rate it is possible, and to-morrow I vote that wehave a thorough inspection of the walls of the storeroom below this. Thatwould be the most likely place, for near the sea-level the chances offinding caverns would be much greater than higher up."

Bertie's face brightened as Harry proceeded.

"It certainly seems possible, Harry. Of course the other place seemed somuch more likely to us that we have never given the side walls a thought.We may find something there after all. I do hope we may, old boy. I cannotbelieve that after things have gone altogether so well with us, and wehave been twice so near finding treasure, that we should fail after all.Which side shall we begin on?"

"We will have a look at them before we decide, Bertie. We have not reallyexamined them since the first day; I really forget what stores we found inthe two side-rooms."

An examination in the morning showed that the passage near the entrance tothe rock on the left-hand side had been used for fuel, that on the otherside was filled at the upper end with skins for some distance, and spearsand sheaves of arrows were piled against the outer wall along the rest ofthe distance.

"Which do you think is the most likely hiding-place?"

"I should say the right-hand passage. The other with the fire-wood in itmight be visited every day, but the spears and arrows would only be wantedin case of any attacks upon the castle, or to arm a large force going outto give battle there. They would naturally put anything they wanted tohide in the passage less likely to be visited."

"I still think, señor," Dias said, "that there must be treasure concealedsomewhere. I should not think a guard would have been placed here, andremained here so many years still keeping watch, as we find they did atthat big loophole on the top floor, unless there was something to watch."

"Quite so, Dias. I have thought that over in every way, and I can see nopossible motive for their being here except to prevent the place frombeing examined. That was needless if there was nothing to guard, andnothing to take away, except these silver brackets, which in those dayswould scarcely have been worth the trouble of getting out and carryingaway. There must be treasure somewhere. We know now that it is not in thebasement, and we will try these side walls, even if we have to blow halfof them in; there is no doubt that the stones are at least as thick asthose at the end, but they will not be difficult to manage. I noticed inthe upper story that they had not taken the trouble to fit them nearly soaccurately as they did those of the outer walls. I don't say that theydidn't fit well, but the stones were of irregular sizes, and I have nodoubt that in many places we could prize them out with a crowbar. Once anopening is made, there will be no difficulty in getting a lot of them out,as the old people did not use cement or mortar. Well, to-morrow morning wewill move all the spears and arrows across to the other side of thatpassage and have a good look at the stones, but we will go up first andlook at the side walls of all the other rooms and see if they are of thesame build. There may be some difference which we have not noticed. Yousee all the side walls of this room are built like those in front. Ididn't notice whether it was the same in the other rooms."

"I will look at once," Dias said, lighting a torch at the fire.

"No, señor," he said, when in ten minutes he returned; "none of the wallson this floor are built of stone like this. This was the grand chamber,the stones are all nearly one size, and so well fitted that you can hardlysee where they join each other. In the other rooms they are not so, butthe stones are, as you noticed above, irregular in size, and although theyfit closely, there is no attempt to conceal the cracks."

"Thank you, Dias! Well, we won't look any more to-night; we shall see inthe morning if the room below us is built in the same way. I have no doubtit is. At any rate we have done enough for to-day. There is some whiskyleft in that bottle, Bertie, and we may as well make ourselves a glass ofgrog. Maria, you had better get down that jar of pulque. We will drink tobetter luck next time."

The woman smiled faintly. She did not often do so now, her spirits hadgradually gone down as the hopes of success faded.

"Now, Maria," Harry said, "you had better take a glass of pulque foryourself. I know you don't often touch it, but you have been working so oflate that I think you want it more than any of us."

"I cannot help feeling low-spirited, señor," she said. "I have so hopedthat you would find the treasure you wanted, and marry this lady you love,and it would be such joy for us to have in some small way repaid theservice you rendered us, that I felt quite broken down. I know I ought notto have been, when you and your brother bear the disappointment sobravely."

"'It is of no use crying over spilt milk', which is an English saying,Maria. Besides, it is possible that the milk may not be spilt yet, anduntil lately your good spirits have helped us greatly to keep ours up. IfI were once convinced that we had failed, I have no doubt I should feelhard hit; but I am a long way from giving up hope yet. There is treasurehere, and if I have to blow up the whole of the old place I will find it.I have got six months yet, and in six months one can do wonders. Anyhow,these brackets will pay us very well for our work. I certainly should nothave earned half the sum in any other way in the same time. And even if Ifail in my great object, I shall have the satisfaction of knowing that Ihave done all in my power to gain it. She will know that I have done mybest. I have always told her, when I have written, how much I owe to youand Dias, how faithfully you have served me, and how you have always beenso bright and pleasant. I have no doubt it has cheered her up as well asme."

Maria was wiping her eyes now. "You are too good, señor; it is so little Ican do, or Dias either, to show our gratitude."

"Nonsense! You show it in every way, even in the matter-of-fact way ofalways giving us excellent food, which is by no means unimportant. Now wewill all turn in, and make a fresh start to-morrow morning."

They were up at daybreak, and after taking their usual cup of coffee litthe torches and descended the stairs to the floor below.

As soon as they reached the right-hand wall, Harry exclaimed: "Why, thisis built in the same way as the one we have left! The stones are squaredand fitted together as closely as those in the drawing-room. Then whyshould that be, except in that one room? The side walls all the way up areroughly built. Why should they have taken the trouble on this floor tobuild these, which are only meant as store-rooms, when even in the roomsabove, which were meant for the habitation of the chief and his family,the rough work was deemed sufficiently good? There must have been somemotive for this, Dias."

"There must have been, señor; it is certainly strange."

"First of all, let us clear the wall and take a general view of it.Guessing won't help us; but I have the strongest hopes that behind one ofthese stones lies a cavern. By the way, Dias, take a torch and go into thenext chamber and see if the stones are solid there."

"They are just the same as those here," Dias said when he returned.

"I would rather that it had been the other way," Harry said, "for then Ishould have been more sure that there was some special reason for theirbuilding them in this way here."

It took them all half an hour's work to move the spears and arrows to theother side.

"Do you think, Harry, if we were to tap the stones we should be able tofind whether there is a hollow behind any of them?"

Harry shook his head.

"Not in the least. I have no doubt these stones are two or three feetthick, and there could be no difference in the sound they would make ifstruck, whether they were filled in solid behind or had no backing. Tobegin with, we will make a careful examination of the walls. Possibly weshall see some signs of a stone having been moved. It would be very muchmore difficult to take one of the great blocks out and put it in againthan it would be to get up one of the paving-stones."

When they had gone about half-way along, examining each stone with thegreatest care, Bertie, who was ahead of the rest, and passing the candlehe held along the edge of every joint, said, "Look here! this stoneprojects nearly half an inch beyond the rest."

The others gathered round him. The stone was of unusual size, being fullytwo and a half feet wide and four feet long, the bottom joint being twofeet above the floor.

Bertie moved along to let the others look at the edge. He was keeping hisfinger on the joint, and they had scarcely come up when he said, "Theother end of the stone's sunk in about as much as this end projects."

"Something certainly occurred to shift this stone a little," Harry said,examining it carefully. "It is curious. If others had been displaced, onewould have put it down to the shock of an earthquake--a common enoughoccurrence here--but both above and below it the stones are level with theothers, and nowhere about the house have we seen such anotherdisplacement. Look! there is a heap of rubbish along the foot of the wallhere. Stir it up, Dias, and let us see what it is."

"It is sand and small stones, and some chips that look like chips ofrock."

"Yes, these bits look, as you say, as if they had been chipped off a rock,not like water-worn stones. Though how they got here, where everywhereelse things are perfectly tidy, I cannot say. However, we can think thatover afterwards. Now for the stone! Let us all put our weight against thisprojecting end. I don't in the least expect that we can move it, but atany rate we can try."

They all pushed together.

"I think it moved a little," Harry said, and looked at the edge.

"Yes, it is not above half as far out now as it was."

"That is curious, for if it is as thick as we took it to be, it wouldweigh at least a couple of tons. We won't try to push it in any farther. Iam sorry we pushed it at all. Now, give me that heavy sledge, José,possibly there may be a hollow sound to it. I will hit at the other end,for I don't want this to go in any farther."

He went to the stone beyond it first and struck two or three blows withall his strength. Then he did the same with the stone that they wereexamining.

"I don't think it gives such a dead sound," he said.

The others were all of the same opinion.

"Good! This is another piece of luck," he said. "We have certainly hit onsomething out of the way."

"Your hammering has brought this end out again, Harry," Bertie said.

"So it has, and it has pushed this end in a little. Let us try again." Butalthough all took turns with the sledges, they could make no furtherimpression on the stone.

"Well, we will try the drills," Harry said. "In the first place, we willfind out how thick it is."

They at once set to work with the drill. Progress was slower than it hadbeen before, because, instead of striking down on the head of the drill,they had now to swing the hammer sideways and lost the advantage of itsweight; and they were obliged to work very carefully, as a miss would haveseriously damaged the one holding the drill. It took them four hours'steady work to get the hole in three inches. Ten minutes later, to theirastonishment, the drill suddenly disappeared. Dias, who was striking,nearly fell, for instead of the resistance he had expected, the drill shotforward; the hammer hit José, who had this time been holding the drill, aheavy blow on the arm, causing him to utter a shout of pain.

Harry, who was sitting down having breakfast, having just handed hishammer to Bertie, jumped to his feet.

"How did you manage that, Dias? I suppose it slipped off the head. Youmust have hit José a very heavy blow."

"I have hit him a heavy blow, señor, and nearly tumbled down myself; but Istruck the drill fairly enough, and it has gone."

"Gone where, Dias?"

"I think it must have gone right through the hole, señor."

"Then there is an empty space behind!" Harry shouted joyfully. "However,"he went on in changed tones, "we must see to José first. That blow mayhave fractured his arm. Let me look, José. No, I don't think anything isbroken, but there is a nasty cut on the wrist. It is fortunate that youwere not striking straight down, Dias, for I am sure we have not putanything approaching the strength into our blows, now we are hittingsideways, that we exerted before. You had better go up to Maria, José, andget her to bathe your wrist with cold water, and put on a bandage."

"Now, señor, what shall we do next?"

"Well, now that we know that its weight cannot be anything very great, andthat certainly to some extent it can be moved, we will try hammering againat that end. Do you stand three or four feet beyond it, so as to be ableto bring your sledge down with all your strength just on the lower corner.I will face you and strike six or eight inches above where you hit. Ofcourse we must both bring our hammers down at the same instant. We shallbe able to do that after two or three trials. Stand at the other end ofthe stone, Bertie, and tell us if it moves at all."

After one or two attempts the two men got to swing their hammers so as tostrike precisely at the same moment, and when half a dozen blows hadfallen, Bertie said: "It comes out a little at each blow. It is not much,but it comes."

Three or four minutes later he reported, "It is an inch and a half outnow, and there is room to get the end of a crowbar in here."

"That is curious," Harry said as he lowered his sledgehammer, and, takingup the candle, examined the end where he had been striking.

"This is sunk about the same distance, Bertie. The stone must work somehowon a pivot."

They now put a crowbar into the end Bertie had been watching, and allthree threw their weight on the lever. Slowly the stone yielded to thepressure, and moved farther and farther out. It was pushed open until thecrowbar could act no longer as a lever, but they could now get a hold ofthe inside edge. It was only very slowly and with repeated efforts thatthey could turn the stone round, and at last it stood fairly at rightangles to the wall, dividing the opening into equal parts about two feetfour each.

"There is a pivot under it; that is quite evident. It may be a copper ballin the stone below, or it may be that a knob of the upper stone projectsinto a hole in the lower. However, it does not matter how it works. Hereis an opening into something. Dias, will you go upstairs and tell yourwife and José to come down? They had better bring half a dozen moretorches. Our stock here is getting low, and we shall want as much light aspossible. It is only fair that we should all share in the discovery."

Dias went off.

"Now, Bertie, we must not let our hopes grow too high. I think it is morelikely than not that we shall find nothing here."

"Why do you think so, Harry? I made sure we had as good as got thetreasure."

"I think, if there had been treasure," Harry went on, "that this stonewould have been closed with the greatest care. They would hardly have leftit so carelessly closed that anyone who examined the wall would havenoticed it, just as we did. We found the other places most carefullyclosed, though there was nothing in them."

"Perhaps there was something that prevented them from shutting--a littlestone or something."

"But we know that that wasn't so, Bertie, because the stone yielded to ourweight; and if it did so now, it could have been shut with the greatestease originally, when no doubt the pivot was kept oiled, and the wholeworked perfectly smoothly. It is almost certain that they were able insome way to fasten it securely when it was shut. What is that piece ofsquare stone lying there?"

"It fell down from above just as the slab opened."

Harry took it up. It was about six inches long by two inches square.

"It is a very hard stone," he said--"granite, I should say. I expect youwill find that it fits into a hole in the stone above."

"Well, I think, Bertie, you will find a hole in that end of the stone wemoved that it will fit."

Bertie crept in, and felt along the top of the stone.

"Yes, there is a hole here about the same size as the stone, but it is notmore than three inches deep."

"Then, that stone was the bolt, Bertie. You see it was pushed up, and thedoor then closed; and when the stone was exactly in its place, it woulddrop into the hole and keep it from moving, and nothing short of breakingup the bolt would give an entrance. It is lucky that we did not push itquite to; another quarter of an inch and that bolt would have fallen, andwe could not have moved it unless by smashing the whole thing into bits.That was why they did not quite close the stone; they wanted to get inagain."

"Here come the others!"

Maria had been washing some clothes in the stream, and they had thereforebeen longer in coming than if she had been in the room. They all lookedgreatly excited.

"So you have found it, señor!" Dias exclaimed in delight.

"We have found an entrance into somewhere, but I am afraid it will be asempty as the other chambers."

"Why do you think so, señor?" Dias asked in dismay.

Harry repeated the reasons he had given Bertie for his belief that thestone must have been left in such a position as to be easily opened whenrequired.

"Why should it have been left so?"

"Because the treasure they expected had never arrived. It is possible thatwhen the Incas discovered the treasure in that chamber we searched, theymay also have found this entrance. It may have been shown to them by oneof the prisoners, and they may have broken the stone here into pieces asthey broke that over the chamber afterwards. Seeing what a splendidhiding-place it was, they may have, when the Spaniards first arrived, madeanother stone to fit, with the intention of using it for a hiding-placethemselves. The fact that the stone was left so that it could be at onceopened is conclusive proof to my mind that the treasure never came. Thatheap of sand, small stones, and chips of rock is another proof that theywere ready to receive treasure, and it was probably swept out of thechamber that is behind here, and would, of course, have been removed whenthe treasure was put in and the door closed; but as the treasure never didcome, it was left where it lay. However, we will now go and see. I haveonly kept you waiting because I did not want you to be disappointed."

One by one they crept through the opening. For four feet in, the passagewas the same width as the stone, but two feet deeper; then it at onceopened into a large cavern.

"This wall was four feet thick, you see, Dias. Apparently squared stonewas only used for the facing, as the stones are of irregular shape on theback. This would be a natural cavern, and a splendid hiding-place itmakes. No doubt its existence was one of the reasons for building thiscastle."

The cavern was some twelve feet wide and thirty feet high at the mouth;the floor sloped up sharply, and the sides contracted, and met forty feetfrom the mouth. The floor had been cut into steps two feet wide, runningacross the cave and extending to the back. These steps were faced with aperfectly flat slab of stone. The cave was empty.

The natives uttered loud exclamations of disappointment and regret.

Harry had so thoroughly made up his mind that nothing would be found therethat he surveyed the place calmly and in silence. Bertie imitated hisexample with some difficulty, for he too was bitterly disappointed.

"You see, Dias," Harry went on quietly, "this place was prepared toreceive treasure. The steps have all been swept perfectly clean. You see,the gold could be piled up, and no doubt the steps were cut and faced withstone to prevent any gold-dust that might fall from the bags, in which, nodoubt, it would be brought, and small nuggets, from falling into thecracks and crevices of the rock. I should say that in all probability theyexpected that treasure ship that was lost, and had everything in readinessfor hiding the cargo here directly it came. It never did come. The doorwas shut as far as it could be without the bolt falling down and fasteningit; then they waited for the ship; and if it did not arrive, othertreasure might be brought by land. Well, it cannot be helped. So far wehave failed. There may still be treasure hidden somewhere. We cannot saythat we have searched the place thoroughly yet."

For another six weeks they worked hard. The wall was broken through inseveral places, but no signs of the existence of any other cavern orhiding-place was discovered.

"I should give it up," Harry said, when at the end of that time they weresitting gloomily round the fire, "but for one thing: I can see no possibleexplanation why a party of men should have been left here, and a guardkept, for perhaps a hundred years, perhaps more, and the stories aboutdemons been circulated, and people who ventured to approach been murdered,unless there had been some good reason for it. That reason could only havebeen, as far as I can see, that there was a treasure hidden here. I haveturned it over and over in my mind a thousand times, and I can think of noother reason. Can you, Bertie, or you, Dias?"

"No," Bertie replied. "I have often thought about it; but, as you say,there must have been some good reason, for no people in their senses wouldhave spent their lives in this old place, and starved here, unless theyhad some cause for it."

Dias made no reply beyond shaking his head.

"You see," Harry went on, "they kept up their watch to the end. There werethose two skeletons of men who had died at their post at that curiouswindow where nothing could be seen. I hate to give up the search, and yetwe seem to have tried every point where there was a possibility of ahiding-place existing."

CHAPTER XIX

THE TREASURE

The next morning Harry said:

"I will go upstairs to that look-out place again. I have been up therepretty nearly every day, and stared down. I can't get it out of my mindthat the key of the mystery lies there, and that that hole was made forsome other purpose than merely throwing stones out on to any of those whomight go in behind the rocks. I have puzzled and worried over it."

"Shall I come up with you, Harry?"

"No, I would rather you didn't. I will go up by myself and spend themorning there; some idea may occur to me. You may as well all have a quietday of it."

He lit his pipe and went upstairs. José went off to the mules, and Bertiedescended the ladder, and strolled round what they called the courtyard,looking for eggs among the rocks and in the tufts of grass growing higherup. Dias scattered a few handfuls of maize to the chickens and thenassisted Maria to catch two of them; after which he descended the ladderand sat down gloomily upon a stone. He had become more and more depressedin spirits as the search became daily more hopeless; and although heworked as hard as anyone, he seldom spoke, while Harry and his brotheroften joked, and showed no outward signs of disappointment. An hourpassed, and then Harry appeared suddenly at the window.

"Bertie, Dias, come up at once, I have an idea!"

They ran to the ladder and climbed up. The excitement with which he spokeshowed that the idea was an important one. "Now, Dias," he broke out asthey joined him, "we know, don't we, that a part of the Incas' treasurewas sent off by boat, and the belief of the Indians was that it was neverheard of again."

"That is so, señor. There was certainly a storm the day after it started,and, as I have told you, it was never heard of again. Had it been, areport of it would surely have come down."

"I believe, Dias, that the boat was dashed to pieces against that line ofrocks outside the entrance to the passage. We have reason to believe thatthe people here were expecting the treasure to arrive, and had theentrance to the cave in readiness to receive it. Certainly no better placecould have been chosen for concealment. The boat may have been coming herewhen the storm broke and drove them towards the shore. They probablyattempted to gain the mouth of the cove, but missed it, and were dashed topieces against the rocks. The Indians on guard here no doubt saw it, andwould be sure that the heavy sacks or boxes containing the gold would sinkto the bottom. They would lie perfectly secure there, even more securethan if they had been removed and placed in the cave, and could always berecovered when the Spaniards left, so they were content to leave themthere. Still, they obeyed the orders they had received to keep watch forever over the treasure, and to do so knocked that strange hole through thewall and always kept two men on guard there.

"So it must have gone on. They and those who succeeded them never wavered.Doubtless they received food from their friends outside, or some of themwent out, as you have done, to fetch it in. Then came a time when, forsome reason or other--doubtless, as I supposed before, when the Spaniardsswept pretty nearly all the natives up to work in the mines, and theythemselves dared not issue out--the attempt to get food was made, when toolate, by the men whose skeletons we found on the steps when we first camehere; and the rest were all too feeble to repeat the experiment, and died--the two sentinels at their post, the rest in the room where we foundthem."

"Hurrah!" Bertie shouted, "I have no doubt you have hit it, Harry. Ibelieve, after all, that we are going to find it. That is splendid! Ishall dance at your wedding, Harry, which I had begun to think I nevershould do."

"Don't be a young ass, Bertie. It is only an idea, and we have had severalideas before, but nothing has come of them."

"Something is going to come of this, I am convinced; I would bet any moneyon it. Well, shall we go and have a trial at once?"

"What do you think, Dias?" Harry said, paying no attention to Bertie'slast remark.

"I think it is quite possible, señor. Certainly, if the Indians had beentold to guard the treasure, they would do so always. You know how theykept the secrets entrusted to them whatever tortures they were put to. Ifthe gold had been, as you say, lost amongst the rocks, I do think theywould have still watched the place. I thought it strange that they shouldhave made that hole, but when you said that they might have made it tothrow stones down it seemed to me to be likely enough; but the othersuggestion is more probable. Well, señor, I am ready to try it, but I amnot a very good swimmer."

"My brother and I are both good swimmers, and we will do that part of thework. The hardest part will be getting it up, and you will be able to giveus your help at that."

"Well, let us be off," Bertie said; "I am all on thorns to begin. We shallsoon find it out. If it is there, it is almost certain to be at the footof the rocks, though, of course, it is possible that the boat sank beforestriking them. At any rate, I feel sure she went down somewhere within thearea that can be seen through that hole. It won't take many days' divingto search every yard of the bottom."

They hastily descended the ladder, and, divesting themselves of theirclothes, swam out through the opening. Dias climbed up on the rocks, theothers swam round by the ends of the barrier. The water was so warm thatthey would be able to remain in it for any time without inconvenience.

"We need not begin here, Bertie; we are outside the line of sight. Fromthat hole I could not see the end of these rocks. We will start at themiddle, and work in opposite directions."

On arriving off the centre of the wall both dived. The depth was abouttwelve feet, and as the water was perfectly clear, Harry could see four orfive feet round him. He was obliged to swim carefully, for the bottom wascovered with rocks, for the most part rounded by the action of the sea.For an hour he continued his search, by which time he had reached nearlythe end of the line of rocks. Then he landed on a ledge of rock and satdown, calling to Bertie to join him.

"We will rest for a quarter of an hour," he said, "and then begin again.This time we will keep twenty or thirty feet farther out; it is morelikely to be there than close in. If the boat struck, the next wave wouldsweep over her, and she would probably go down stern first, and her cargowould fall out that way."

After their rest they started again, swam out a few strokes, and thendived. Harry had gone down five or six times, when, on his coming to thesurface, he heard a shout, and saw Bertie swimming towards him.

"I have found them, Harry! There are a number of ingots, but they were soheavy that I could not bring one of them to the surface."

As Harry reached him the lad turned round and swam back. "There they are,just opposite that cleft in the rock! I looked directly I came up so as toknow the exact spot."

Harry trod water for half a minute, then took a long breath and dived.

It was as Bertie had said. Scattered among the rocks were a score ofingots. They had lost their brilliancy, but shone with a dull copperishhue, with bright gleams here and there where rocks had grated againstthem. Putting one hand on a block of rock he lifted one of them with theother.

"About twenty pounds," he said to himself. "Thank God, Hilda is as good aswon!" Then he rose to the surface. "Shake hands, Bertie; there is enoughthere to make us all rich for life. Now we will get back again. We have tothink matters over, and see how they are to be got ashore. There is nohurry; they have lain there for three hundred years, and would lie thereas much longer if we did not take them. We have found them, Dias!" heshouted; and the latter gave a yell of delight. "Swim ashore, and we willjoin you there."

Not another word was spoken until they had dressed and walked out.

"I am too excited even to think," Harry broke out. "It is time for dinner.When we have had that and smoked a pipe I shall be able to talk calmlyover it."

Maria was wild with delight at the news, and laughed and cried by turns.Even José, who was accustomed to take all things quietly, was almost asexcited. The woman was only called to herself when Harry said, laughing,"Maria, for the first time since we started from Lima, you are letting thedinner burn."

"To think of it!" she cried. "It is your fault, señor; you should not havetold me about it till we sat down."

"You won't have to cook much longer, Maria. You will be able now to have aservant, and a house as big as you like, and a beautiful garden."

"I should not like that, señor; what should I do all day with myself?"

"I am glad, señor, glad for your sake," Dias said gravely. "To us it willmake no difference. You said there was enough there to make us rich.Assuredly that is so; but not one peso of it will we touch. No man withIndian blood in his veins, not even the poorest in Peru, would have aughtto do with an ounce of the Incas' treasures. When they were buried, acurse was laid upon any who betrayed their hiding-place or who evertouched the gold. It has brought a curse upon Spain. At the time theSpaniards landed here they were a great nation. Now their glory hasdeparted; they no longer own the land they tyrannized over for threehundred years, and we have heard that their power in Europe has altogethergone. It must be the curse of the gold, or they would never have allowedyour great Englishman, Cochrane, with but two or three ships, to conquerthem here. My mind is easy as to the finding of the treasure. You camehere in spite of my prayers that you would not do so. It is you who havemade the discovery, not me. But I will take no share in the gold. From theday I took it I should be a cursed man; my flesh would melt away, I shouldsuffer tortures, and should die a miserable death." "Well, Dias, I willnot try to persuade you. I know that, Christian though you be, your nativebelief still clings to you, and I will not argue against it; but I havemoney of my own, and from that I will give you enough to make youcomfortable for life, and that you can take without feeling that you haveincurred any curse from the finding of this treasure."

"I thank you heartily," Dias said gratefully; "I thank you with all myheart. I have ever been a wanderer, and now I will gladly settle down. Ido not desire wealth, but enough to live on in comfort with my wife, andonly to travel when it pleases me."

"You shall have enough for that and more, Dias."

After some more meat had been cooked and eaten, and he had smoked a pipe,Harry said: "A boat would, of course, be the best thing, but there aredifficulties connected with it. There is no spot, as far as I know, wherewe could land for fifteen miles on either side, and there would only besmall villages where everything we did would be seen and talked about.There is no place where we could keep a boat here, for if even a slightbreeze sprang up the swell coming in round the passage between the rocksand the cliff would smash her up in no time."

"That is so, señor."

Harry was silent again for some time, and then said: "The only plan I canthink of is to get some strong leather bags. Then we could take one downwith us when we dive, with a strong cord tied to it, put a couple of theingots into it, and you could haul it up on to the rocks, and so on untilwe have finished a day's work. Then we could carry them to this side ofthe rocks; there you could put them, three or four at a time, into thebag, and drop them down in the water. We would swim up the tunnel and haulthem in, and then bring the bag back again. We sha'n't be able to getanything approaching all the ingots, for a great many of them must havegone in between the crevices of the rocks, and unless we broke it up withpowder, which would be next to impossible without a diving-dress and air-pumps and all sorts of things, which cannot be bought in this country, wecould not get at them. However, we have only just begun to look for themyet; we may come across a pile. Heavy as the sea must be on this coast ina gale, I hardly think it would much affect a pile of ingots; their weightwould keep them steady even were big rocks rolled about.

"I think the best thing, Dias, would be for you to go off with two orthree mules. We shall soon be running short of provisions, and you hadbetter get enough flour and dried meat to last us for a month. I don'tsuppose we shall be as long as that, but it is as well to have a goodstore so as not to have to make the journey again. Then you had better gettwenty leather bags, such as those in which they bring the ore down fromthe mountains. We have plenty of stout rope, but we shall want some thincord for tying the necks of the bags. You may as well bring another keg ofspirits, brandy if you can get it, a bag of coffee, and some sugar, andanything else you think of. Now I am a millionaire we can afford to becomfortable. By the way, we might as well this afternoon get the rest ofthose silver brackets out. These are not a part of the Incas' treasure,and you can take them as your share without fear of the curse. It would bebest for you to smelt them down; I know all of you natives can do that."

"Do you think that they are not part of the Incas' treasure, señor?" Diassaid doubtfully.

"Certainly not; they were undoubtedly here before the Incas' time. Buteven had they been put there by Incas, you could not call them hiddentreasure. They might be part of the Incas' property, but certainly notpart of the treasures they hid."

"But it is altogether too much, señor; it is noble of you to offer it me."

"Not at all; we owe everything we find to you, and it would be only fairthat you should have at least a third of the gold. But still, if you won'ttouch that, you must take the silver."

"But I heard you say that it was worth four thousand pounds."

"Well, if we are lucky we shall get twenty times as much, Dias."

"Certainly we will take it, señor, and grateful we shall both be to you,"Maria said; "and so will José, who will inherit it all some day, as he isthe only relative we have. I agree with Dias about the gold. I have heardso often about the curse on it that I should be afraid."

"Well, Maria, you see there is a lot of nonsense in all yoursuperstitions. You know it was one of them that this place was guarded bydemons. Now you have seen for yourself that it was all humbug. If you areafraid about the silver, I will take it to England and sell it there andsend you the money it fetches; but that would give a great deal oftrouble. It will be difficult to get the gold safely away, without beingbothered with all this silver.

"You had better buy some bags of charcoal, Dias. I suppose you will usethat small hearth we have?"

"No, señor, it would take an immense time to do it in that. I will loadone of the mules with hard bricks."

"You will want two mules to carry a hundred, Dias--I think they weighabout four pounds and a half each. Will that be enough?"

"Plenty, señor; but I shall want another bellows. José and I can work thetwo of them, and that will make a great heat. We can melt two or threehundred pounds a day. I have helped to make many a furnace up in themountains, and I know very well all about the way to build and work them."

"Very well, then, that is settled. You had better start to-morrow morningwith José, and we will spend the day in finding out a little more aboutthe gold."

Dias started the next morning, and the two brothers were in the water mostof the day. Harry found, as he had expected, that a great deal of thetreasure had sunk out of reach between the rocks; but he came upon onepile, which had apparently been originally packed in sacks or skins, lyingin a heap a little farther out than they had before searched. He had nodoubt that this was the point where the stern of the boat had sunk, and aconsiderable portion of the contents had been shot out, while the rest hadbeen scattered about as the boat broke up, and as the skins rotted theircontents had fallen between the rocks. There were, as nearly as he couldcalculate, two hundred and fifty to three hundred ingots in the pile.

"I need not trouble about the rest," he laughed to himself. "Each ingot,if it weighs twenty pounds, is worth a thousand. Two hundred of them wouldmake me as rich as any man can want to be. I can hardly believe in myluck; it is stupendous. Fancy a half-pay lieutenant with two hundredthousand pounds! Old Fortescue will become one of the most complaisant offathers-in-law."

The evening before Dias left, Harry had written a letter for him to postat Callao, telling Hilda to keep up a brave heart, for that he hoped to beat home before the end of the second year with money enough to satisfy herfather.

"I should not tell you so unless I felt certain of what I am saying. Itold you before I left that it was almost a forlorn hope that I wasundertaking, and that the chances were ten thousand to one against me. Ithink now that the one chance has turned up, and I hope to be home withintwo months of the time that you receive this letter."

He did not say more; but even now he could scarcely believe that the goodfortune had befallen him, and feared that some unlucky fate mightinterfere between him and the fulfilment of his hopes. When Dias returnedafter two days' absence the work began. Each morning they worked togetherat bringing up the gold and piling the ingots on the rock. It was slowerwork than Harry had expected, for on hauling the bag to the rocks it wasoften caught by the boulders, and he and Bertie sometimes had to dive fouror five times before they could free it and get it ashore. The gold waspiled in the tunnel just beyond the water. In a fortnight the last ingotthey could get at was stored with its fellows--two hundred and eighty-twoin all.

They had repeatedly talked over the best plan of getting the gold away,and finally concluded that it would be risking too much to take it into atown, and that the best plan would be for Harry to buy a boat at Callao,which, as a naval officer, would be natural enough. They decided toprocure three times as many bags as the ingots would really require, andthat they should put in each bag three ingots only, filling it up withpieces of stone, so that the weight should not exceed what it would havebeen were the contents heavy ore. Harry arranged that he would go down toCallao, buy a large boat, and after having made several excursions, toaccustom the officials at Callao to seeing him going about, he would makea bargain with the captains of two ships about to sail to England, tocarry about two tons each of ore, which he could put on board them afterdark, so as to avoid the extortion he would have to submit to before theport officials and others would allow him to ship it. The question thatpuzzled them most was the best way of taking the bags into the boat. Diaswas in favour of their being carried on the mules to a point lower downthe coast, at which they could be loaded into the boat.

"It would be only necessary to carry the gold," he said, "the stones tofill the bags could be put in there."

The objection to this was that they might be observed at work, and that atmost points it would be difficult both to run the boat up and to get heroff again through the rollers. If the boat were brought round into theinlet she could be loaded there comfortably. The only fear was of beingcaught in a gale. But as gales were by no means frequent the risk wassmall; and should a sudden storm come on when she was lying there, and shewere broken up, it would be easy to recover the gold from the shallowwater behind the rocks. This was therefore settled. Only half the treasurewas to be taken away at once, and not till this had been got on board aship and the vessel had sailed would the boat come back for the rest oftheir treasure.

Dias was at once to start with the mules and carry the silver, in twojourneys, to a safe place among the mountains. There he could bury it inthree or four hiding-places, to be fetched out as he might require it,only taking some fifty pounds to Lima. Here he was to dispose of a portionof it to one of the dealers who made it his business to buy up silver fromthe natives. As many of these worked small mines, and sent down theproduce once a month to Lima, there would be nothing suspicious in itsbeing offered for sale, especially as it would be known that Dias had beenaway for a very long time among the mountains. It was necessary that thesale should be effected at once, because Harry's stock of money wasrunning very low, and he would have to pay for the passages of Bertie andhimself to England, and for the freight of the gold. Dias was to disposelater on of all the remaining stores, the powder and tools, and the threeriding mules.

Two days later the last of the silver brackets had been melted, and Diasand Harry started with the eight mules, six of them being laden with thesilver. They struck back at once into the hills, and after travelling fortwo days, ascended a wild gorge. "It is not once a year that anyone wouldcome up here, señor. There is no way out of it. We can bury the silverhere with a certainty that it will be safe from disturbance."

"Yes, it will be safe here; and as you want it you have only to make ajourney with a couple of mules to fetch as much as you require, carry ithome, and bury it in your garden or under the house; then you could fromtime to time take a few ingots into the town and dispose of them. But tobegin with, I will borrow fifty pounds weight of it, and get you todispose of it for me at Lima. My money is beginning to run short. I shallhave to pay for the freight of the gold and my own passage home, and tobuy a boat large enough to carry half the treasure. It is not likely thatthere will be two vessels sailing at the same time, in which case I shallmake two trips. As I should not put it on board until the night before theship sailed, of course I could go home with the second lot."

"I shall never know what to do with a tenth part of this silver, señor. Itwould never do for me to make a show of being rich; the authorities wouldseize me, and perhaps torture me to make me reveal the source of mywealth."

"Well, there are thousands of your countrymen in the deepest poverty,Dias; you could secretly help those in distress; a single ingot, tenpounds in weight, would be a fortune to them. And when you die you mightget a respectable lawyer to make out a will, leaving your treasure to somecharity for the benefit of Indians, giving, of course, instructions wherethe treasure is to be found."

"That is good," Dias said. "Thank you, señor! that will make me veryhappy."

They had brought a pick and shovel with them, and, dividing the bags,buried them at some distance apart, rolling stones to cover up the hiding-places, and obliterating any signs of the ground having been disturbed. Ahundred pounds were left out, and with this in their saddle-bags theyarrived at Lima two days later.

Harry went on alone into Callao. He had no difficulty in purchasing aship's boat in fair condition. She carried two lug-sails, and was amplylarge enough for the purpose for which she was required, being nearlythirty feet long with a beam of six feet. He got her cheaply, for the shipto which she belonged had been wrecked some distance along the coast, anda portion of the crew had launched her and made their way to Callao; themate, who was the sole surviving officer, was glad to accept the tenpounds Harry offered for her, as this would enable the crew to exist untilthey could obtain a passage home, or ship on board some British vesselshort of hands. The boat was too large to be worked by one man, and seeingthat the mate was an honest and intelligent fellow, Harry arranged withhim to aid him to sail the boat, and each day they went out for somehours. After spending a week in apparent idleness, and getting to knowmore of the man, Harry told him that he had really bought the boat for thepurpose of getting some ore he had discovered on board a ship homeward-bound.

"You know what these Peruvians are," he said, "and how jealous they are ofour getting hold of mines, so I have got to do the thing quietly, and theonly way will be to take the ore off by night. It is on a spot some eightymiles along the coast. I am going off tomorrow to get it ready forembarkation, and I shall be away about a week. I find that the _London_will leave in ten days, and I shall get it put on board the night beforeshe sails. While I am away, look after the boat. The _Nancy_ will sailfive days later. I am going to put half on board each ship, as I amanxious to ensure that some at least of the ore shall reach home, so as tobe analysed, and see if it is as rich as I hope. But be sure not tomention a word of this to a soul. I should have immense trouble with theauthorities if it got about that I had discovered a mine."

"I understand, sir. You may be quite sure I shall say nothing about it."

"How are your men getting on?"

"Four are shipped on board the _Esmerelda_, which sailed yesterday, theothers are hanging on till they can get berths. I hope a few will be ableto go in the two ships you name, but they haven't applied at present. Someof the crew may desert before the time for sailing comes, and of coursethey would get better paid if they went as part of the crew than if theymerely worked their passage home."

"I am sorry for them," Harry said. "Here is another five pounds to helpthem to hold on. As an old naval officer I can feel for men in such aplace."

Dias, after selling the silver, had, a week before, returned with themules to the castle, and on his arrival there had sent José to join Harryand bring news to them of the day on which the boat would arrive. Dias andBertie were packing half the bags, of which the former took with him anample supply, to get the gold out on the rocks facing the entrance, sothat they could be shipped without delay. Great pains were taken inpacking the bags so that the three ingots placed in each should becompletely surrounded by stones. Anyone who might take a fancy to feelthem, in order to ascertain their contents, would have no reason tosuppose that they carried anything beyond the ore they were stated tocontain.

Harry had had no difficulty in arranging with the captain of the London totake from a ton and a half to two tons of ore the night before he sailed,and three days before this Harry started with the mate. There was but alight breeze, and it was daylight next morning before they arrived. A polehad been stuck up at the edge of the cliff just above the cavern, and asit became dark a lantern was also placed there, so they had no trouble infinding the entrance of the little cove.

"It is a rum-looking place, sir," the man said. "As far as I can see thereis no break in the cliffs."

"It is a curious place, but you will find the bags with the ore on therocks inside here ready for us, and my brother and one of my men waitingthere. They will have made us out an hour ago, so we can load up at onceand get out of this tiny creek. I don't want to stay in there any longerthan is necessary, for if there is anything of a swell we could not getout again."

As they approached the place Harry gave a shout, which was at onceanswered. The sails were lowered, and the boat passed round the edge ofthe rocks.

"It is a rum place," the mate repeated. "Why, one might have rowed pasthere fifty times without thinking there was water inside the rocks. Ofcourse you must have lowered the sacks down from the top?"

"It was a difficult job," Harry said carelessly; "but we were anxious toget the things away quietly. If we had taken them down to the port weshould have had no end of bother, and a hundred men would have set off atonce to try and find out where we got the ore."

Bertie and Dias had everything ready, and as the boat drew up alongsidethe rocks on which they were standing the former said, "Everything allright, Harry?"

"Yes, I hope so. We are to put the ore on board the _London_ to-morrowafter dark; she will get up her anchor at daylight. You have got all thebags ready, I hope?"

"Everything; the others will be ready for you when you come back forthem."

"The next ship sails in about a week. Now, let us get them on board atonce, I don't want to stop in here a minute longer than is necessary.There is scarcely a breath of wind now; if it doesn't blow up a bit in themorning, we shall have a long row before us to get there in time. This ismy brother, Owen; the other is a mule-driver, who has been my guide andcompanion for the past year, and whom I am proud to call my friend."

"You don't want anything in the way of food, do you?" Bertie asked.

"We have got some here," Harry laughed. "I am too old a sailor to put tosea without having provisions in my craft. Now, let us get the bags onboard."

It did not take them long to transfer the sacks into the boat.

"They are pretty heavy," the mate said, "I should say a hundredweighteach."

"About that," Harry said carelessly. "This ore stuff is very heavy."

As soon as all was on board Harry said: "Now we can put out at any moment,but I don't want to leave till dark. We may as well begin to get the restof the bags out here at once. We might finish that job before we start.Then you could come down with us, Bertie, and Dias could pack up theremaining stores to-morrow and start for Lima with the mules, and his wifeand José.

"Very well, Harry. I think we can leave the sacks here safely."

"Just as safely as if they were ashore. So far as we know no one has beenin here for the past two hundred years, and no one is likely to come inthe next week."

By evening all the work was done. The mate had been greatly surprised atthe manner in which the bags had been brought on board, but had helped inthe work and asked no questions. As soon as it was dark they rowed outfrom the cove. There was not a breath of wind. Bertie volunteered to takethe first watch, the mate was to take the next.

Harry was not sorry to turn in. He had had but little sleep for the pastweek. Everything had seemed to be going well, but at any moment theremight be some hitch in the arrangements, and he had been anxious andexcited. Wrapping himself in his poncho he lay down in the stern of theboat and slept soundly until morning.

"I have had a sleep," he said on waking. "I have slept longer to-nightthan I have done for the past fortnight. Now I will take the helm. Howfast have we been moving?"

"We have not gone many miles, and if what tide there is hadn't been withus we should not have moved at all, for the sails have not been full allnight. A breeze only sprang up an hour ago, and we are not moving throughthe water now at more than a knot and a half; but I think it isfreshening."

"I hope it is," Harry said. "It is not often that we have a dead calm; butif it doesn't spring up we shall have to row. With two tons and a half ofstuff on board it is as much as we can do to move two knots an hourthrough the water."

"All right, sir! when you think it is time to begin, stir me up."

In half an hour the breeze had increased so much that the boat was runningalong three knots an hour. By eight o'clock she was doing a knot better.So she ran along till, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the wind diedaway again, and they could just see the masts of the ships at Callao inthe distance.

"I should think that we are about fifteen miles off," Harry said.

"About that," Bertie replied. "We had better get our oars and help heralong, she is not going much more than a knot through the water an hour."

They got out the oars and set to work. Occasionally a puff of wind gavethem a little assistance, but it was one o'clock before they arrivedalongside the _London_.

A lamp was alight at the gangway as arranged, and two sailors were onwatch.

"The captain turned in an hour ago, sir," one of them said. "He leftorders that the mate was to call him if you arrived. We will soon have himup."

"We have got the fore-hatch open, and can hand them down in no time. Ifyou will pass the boat along to the chains forward we shall be ready foryou. Shall I send a couple of hands down into the boat to hook them on?"

"No, you needn't do that."

As soon as the boat reached her station a rope with a couple of smallchains attached descended. One of the chains was fastened round a bag, andthis was at once run up. By the time the rope came down again the otherchain was passed round another bag, and in a quarter of an hour the wholewere on board and down in the hold. The captain had now come out,

"So you have got them off all right, Mr. Prendergast?"

"Yes. There are forty-six bags. We will say, roughly, two ton and a half;though I doubt whether there is as much as that. At any rate, I will pay